The accessibility of Utah hikes to major metropolitan areas is unparalleled. Going from the hustle and bustle of city life to the cool, relaxing clime of the mountains, in less than a half hour, is invigorating. And many of the hikes are extremely accessible and family friendly. One of these is the hike to Cecret Lake up Albion Basin. We hiked it in June of ’09, right after Snowbird closed for the season. Had I brought my skis, I could have skied in the morning and wakeboarded in the afternoon! Pretty awesome.
Me and ashton in Albion, …of course my eyes are closed!
The hike was a blast. At the time, it was just Brenda, Ashton and I and Ashton was less than a year old. My sister Alisha came along with my sister Janelle and her husband, Bryan and my brother Dallin and his wife Shannon.
The dirt road exiting from the Albion Basin parking lot quickly turned to snow. I had always wanted to be up in Albion Basin at this time of year. While we were too early for the flowers, which are famous up there, we did catch the bright greens of foliage meet the bright white of the snow, something I had always wanted to see for myself. It wasn’t quite like the contrast of New Zealand or the Alps, but it as still spectacular.
A happy start surrounded by friends and nature
It was a carefree day. My family is very talkative, and we were all just engrossed in conversation, moving from the surroundings to the politics to business to future plans to homes and who knows what else. Over every ridge, the conversation would be interrupted by me exclaiming how beautiful everything was. Brenda would roll her eyes as it was still the same as last time!
At top of sunnyside with fam
We ended the hike at the top of Sunnyside. What a difference a simple 800 vertical feet makes in the weather! We had only brought light clothing and the 9400′ crest was exposed to the wind rushing up the canyon. It’s crazy- as we descended, it seemed like the temperature rose with every step. We didn’t get to finish our lunch up top as we were all huddled up trying to block the wind, so we ate and talked and sometimes yelled excitedly as we descended.
Ashton kept a smile on pretty much the whole time. I think he was the star of the show. He was so happy. He was born to love the outdoors. He was surrounded by awesome vistas, had his favorite toy, a free ride and most of his favorite people in his world with him, so why wouldn’t he be?!
Welcome to the “Mountains of My Life” series. Part 1 of 2
A brief intro to my thinking
I believe in building sub brands or naming/formalizing everything I can. This makes things more memorable. It can also provide opportunity to create acronyms; and as I used to work in the medical field, I take every opportunity possible to help the world have even more acronyms. Its the least I can do.
With that said, I have scheduled, at this point, three regular series: Mountains of My Life Monday (I know, it’s Tuesday), Hellish Hikes Tuesday, and Daily Dreams Wednesday. If anyone thinks of series titles that begin with “T” and “W” for the last two, that’d be cool. I only plan to post once a week, so that means it will be, at this point, 3 week before I post again for “MOMY” (and so the acronyms begin…).
This post is a meant only as a preview to the series, an introduction. Parts 1 and 2 together come nowhere close to covering all of the mountains, climbs and hikes of my life, but instead highlight my favorites. Furthermore, I try to be as succinct as possible in describing the climb, because each climb will have its own, in-depth post, as part of the series.
The Mountains of My Life
It’s lucky that I’m a great driver, otherwise I probably would have caused a ton of accidents by now as I looked out my car window, staring at the mountains like a man stares at a beautiful woman. Mountains are…precious to me. Here are some as a preview to the series. Each had a lesson for me.
Mount Superior: Rise Above the Fray
You see this pic??! ‘Nuff said, right? Jeremii looking studly as he approaches summit
Superior is amazing. My buddies Eric Miller, Jeremii Van Komen and I climbed it in November of some year that I can’t remember while we were all in college. We started out below the clouds and then went into the clouds and then climbed above the clouds. While we climbed, I was pretty bummed because for better or worse, in the end I climb for the views and to feel closer to God.
When I was stuck in the clouds, it was still enjoyable but certainly a let down, as the clouds obstructed the view. That disappointment hanging over me only made the summit, with its incredible, awe-inspiring views, that much sweeter. That’s a life lesson.
Eric and Jeremii looking StudlyMe, pausing to ponder the beautyPerfectly formed bowl in the back is pure beautyLooking down Little Cottonwood, with Pfeifferhorn protruding in distanceAfter kids are gone and wife prefers my life insurance money to my company, I’m gonna go ski this
King’s Peak: Never, Never, Never Give Up
When I climb and have my heart set on summiting, my thought is “the rest of the world be damned.” So, when my brother Dallin says to me, about 12 miles into the climb, early on the 2nd day, “Yo, I forgot to break in my new boots. They’re too small. I have an insane blister. I’m not making it, dude,” all I could think was, “Well, that sucks for you, man. See you in 8 hours.”
King’s Summit, after yet another false summitDallin looking cool as always. Rugged Uintas in back just make us seem tough, right?13,528. That’s High.
Provo Peak: Choose Your Companions Wisely
As I said, I aim to hit the summit every time I climb. I’m not sure if I can live with myself if I don’t. I think we all want to reach the pinnacle of our lives, as well. And it’s hard for most of us to accept mediocrity or failure. We also want to get to where we’re going with the people we love, care about and enjoy being with. We certainly try to avoid associating with people that drag us down or hold us back.
The same is true in climbing and hiking. Now, I’ll say that my companions on the trek up Provo Peak are folks that I love, care about and enjoy being with. But, on this particular day, a couple of those companions held me back! I didn’t choose my companions wisely. This leads to another maxim: choose the right companions for the goal at hand. We didn’t summit, only made it to the ridge. And look, I’m still wigged out about it. I have to climb it again. (Note: These are still my best friends! Its just good to know before you go that people have to be to class by 5 🙂 If any of my friends on that hike are reading this, I still love you guys and I am not bitter in the least :)) But, choosing one’s companions wisely- that’s a life lesson.
Coming up over the ridge to pure spectacularnessThe friends at first were friends at last, but I was a little irked at not summiting 🙂Derek, Jeremii and Ryan with Timp in back
And that’s Part 1 of 2. Hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I did. I never tire of the views.
Me in a meadow in Broads Fork
The genesis of most things is necessity. I am actually starting this blog because of a class assignment. Necessity, however, is a terrible reason to blog. Passion for something, though, is a great reason.
I am passionate about a lot of things, actually. Debating, for example, is something that I quite enjoy. I love being a husband. I have tremendous memories, and new ones every day, of just being a husband and hanging with my wife, Brenda. I love being a father. I have three kids, Ashton (5), Oliver (3) and Adelle (1.5). They drive me completely bonkers, every day, but I love it.
My Beautiful Wife, BrendaMe and Ashton Tubing at Soldier HollowA dual selfie of Ollie and Daddy
With so many things to be stoked about, you’d think it would be hard to choose one as the overall theme, but it actually wasn’t. With my family growing up, with my brothers and friends in college, on my own and with my family, I found that adventure was the dominant theme in my life. So this blog is to celebrate life as an adventure…in all its forms…in the outdoors.
I promise to provide as much eye candy as possible with as little text as possible. I love looking at pictures of mountains, far off places, deep blue oceans, bright green fields, raging waterfalls…and yes, mountains. I would be untrue to myself if I blabbered on and on. I rarely care what others have to say in their blogs – I’m usually just there for the pics. So, I promise eye candy. If not for anyone else, at least for myself.
Freebird Blog 